Tag Archives: interview

This article in the Boston Globe, Yogi Bikram Choudhury likes the finer things in life, is a short piece with a big photo. Post data: And this article, Yoga Fever: Bikram Choudhury’s 105-degree workout is a hot ticket, came out on Sunday in the same paper and is a much longer feature piece that focuses on some of Bikram’s ego-centric rants and commercial hyperdrive. Tenley Woodman, the columnist, ends her piece with her own personal experience in a Bikram class: “The last 20 mintues of class leaves me feeling nauseous and exhausted. I begin to question my sanity. My heart races, my knees shake from fatigue. I swear I will never, ever submit myself to this torture again.” But she does. The article is accompanied by a nice photo gallery.

To compensate for this fluff, here is a more substantive article about a woman taking a Bikram class from the Everett (Wa.) Herald.

“What I’ve been found, no matter what age we are, we can build healthy muscle tissue or we can rot. And the choice is always ours. And I’m not into rot.”

Forest Yoga classes are intense and physically demanding, focused on physical core strength and body integrity. They hurt, but I know that they target areas that I need to strengthen to get to the next level. I find it a nice counterbalance to vinyasa classes that emphasize ease of movement, balance and flexibility. There are not many instructors that are certified to teach Forest Yoga, so probably the easy way to incorporate some of her techniques is to her DVD Strength & Spirit at her website. If you want to read articles and interviews, she has an exhaustive selection.

Thanks to Daily Cup of Yoga, I ran across a recent audio interview with Krisha Das on CBC Radio. [MLS: A shame, but the archive only goes back to 2009 now.] I’ve commented before that he’s kinda been the soundtrack of my yoga practice. The lengthy discussion centers on his spiritual practice that parallels his experience with kirtan music. It really gave new insight into his music. I’ll Krishna Das speak for himself.

I spent part of my lunch breaking listening to an audio interview with Cyndi Lee while I was filling out checks to pay the monthly bills. I really enjoyed the conversation. Cyndi brings a Buddhist vibe to yoga so she emphasizes meditation and life style. She’s involved in a lot of interesting projects in New York and around the world.

Lara Cestone, the founding spirit behind Yoga Peeps, really does a fantastic job bringing together lengthy (30-60 minutes, I think) interviews with yoga instructors around the United States and Canada. She has 19 episodes now, available as podcasts or mp3 files, with people like Ana Forest, Shiva Rea, and Kelly McGonigal, as well as lesser known instructors. Lara does this out of the goodness of her heart because there are no ads on the site and there does not seem to be a business model behind it.

NPR : A Father Bounces Back: “After combating depression and rebuilding his life, a middle-aged father reconnects with his adult daughter.” The audio is now available online. I guess that this counts as five minutes against my “15 minutes of fame.”

I heard the story as I was about to get on the Metro, my wife sighing beside me, “And you told them about living in your parents’ basement, too?” Teresa does not believe in wearing your neuroses — or their consequences — on your sleeve. I could quibble with some phrasing, but it’s really hard to condense 30 years of life into a sentence or two. As much as possible, Allison tried to let Stephanie and me do the talking in the report. Of course, I am used to having 100% control over content in this medium.

When I was a journalist in Peru, I used to do radio news reporting and hated it. I was self-conscious about how my voice sounded, about the spontaneity and quick reactions to news stories, about the inability to correct wording a story once it was phoned in. And I never did it enough to get a handle on it, meaning my angst meter was moving into red whenever I had to do a story. This latest experience reminded me of those days with a tape record and alligator clips.

Unless there’s a major breaking news story on Friday, June 17, National Public Radio’s Morning Edition program will broadcast a special report on the topic of — well, I’m not entirely sure — yoga, depression, fatherhood — and me, I think.

Last Wednesday, I spent four hours with an NPR reporter, Allison Aubrey who covers the consumer health front, talking about how I got involved in yoga, how it’s helped me deal with my depression, how I share my yoga experience with my daughter, Stephanie, and wife, Teresa. She recorded my Wednesday class, talked to my instructor, then we chatted until 10 at night. Well, Stephanie and I said lots of stuff during 4 hours of recording so I have no idea what the final product will be like. Allison was originally looking to do something on “male baby boomers who belatedly get into yoga” (that’s me), and my yoga studio put us in contact.

Allison came by on Monday to record me doing my breathwork routine, and ask a few more questions. She said that the story looks firm, being pegged to Father’s Day, June 19. I have more information about the exact time, which can probably vary because NPR is broadcast by local stations. I will try to post a link here so that those who can’t listen to NPR can get the story on the Web. Since the story does not fit into a neat news niche, I don’t know if it will appear on the Health and Science page. I will post the link once it become available. Last Friday, there was an interesting piece on cutting, called The History and Mentality of Self-Mutilation, which might give an idea of the style for laid-back end-of-week features.